adamsbomb

So I searched a bit, but have a question I do not know the answer to exactly. When I got my car it had a small weep from the coupling of the power steering hose, I noticed in the trunk he had a bottle of powersteering fluid (not atf) which I used to top it off. Fast forward a couple of weeks, I am in the middle of putting on my new hose (afterwork this afternoon). Question is, will there be a problem if I switch to atf now as I imagine there is still some residual powersteering fluid in the steering rack and return hose, although I would imagine it is minimal.

xJeauxel

autozoner answer - no there shouldn't be a problem, or to be safe use a DOT 3 & 4 fluid.

adamsbomb

Well, I went ahead and did the atf fluid, all seems well, but....
There was a third connection in the hose that was not tight, sprayed atf around my engine bay, my main concern is it got the alternator pretty good, should I use my pressure washer and spray it out and let it sit over night (I live in phx, its 110 will dry out no problem lol)

xJeauxel

I'm not sure if its a good idea to it. a quick search and found this.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/genera...lternator.html

xx69xx

iTrader: (1)

The right thing would be to empty out the system and put at like it should be. Maybe the powersteering fluid used can swell and damage seals.

good2go

iTrader: (6)

^^But with that being said, in general, your basic power steering is not a terribly sophisticated type of hydraulic system; certainly nothing on the order of an automatic transmission, and therfore is far more flexible about fluids than a tranny.

adamsbomb

yeah, plus the amount left in the system I would think is very minimal, what is in the rack and return hose. As a side note, I bought the drift motion hose, but decided just to have mine repaired. The way they did it, if the hose goes bad again, you can just disconect it from the banjo fitting at the pump and replace with a new hose so you dont have to struggle to get to the bolt between the pump and the framerail (on the 400). Also, the PO used the powersteering fluid for who knows how long prior, so my little bit should be of small consequence.